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Green No More
As some of you already know, I'm going through a pre-purchase research project before making a final decision on my home defense firearm of choice. In the current phase four (4), I was supposed to be out visiting as many firing ranges as possible, so that I can get up to speed on rules, regulations, protocols and traditions, as well as soak in the sights, sounds, look & feel of gun ranges and to meet experienced gun owners along the way and get their impressions about guns.
Phase five (5) was supposed to be at the very end of the research project, where I went out and began renting pistols and taking basic lessons. Well, today was a bit of a surprise!
After having a bad experience last weekend at a firing range that shall remain nameless, where I was told that I could not observe range activities from a safe distance, I mounted up once again this weekend and headed out to Field Sports Park in San Jose, California - a Rifle, Pistol and Shotgun outdoor range.
When I arrived, I went straight to the office and began asking questions that only a newbie could ask. Everyone who worked there was extremely helpful in pointing things out and did not mind taking the time to help get me up to speed on how things worked at their range. I was handed range regulations and a rate sheet, and was then given brief conceptual tour of the facility. I then drove over the hill to the pistol range thinking that I was there merely to be a spectator. When I got to the pistol range office, my entire day was turned upside down and on its head!
I walked into the office, got in line and began asking Nube questions. The man behind the counter was extremely helpful and genuinely interested in my questions. He explained how everything worked on the pistol side of the park. Just at that moment, another member walks through the door and begins to overhear some of the questions I was asking the man behind the counter.
That same member immediately introduced himself to me and then invited me to come shoot with him!
I was a bit taken off guard at first - not knowing that today would be my first day firing a pistol. I said, thank you very much! I was told my the man behind the counter that I was in "good hands." Feeling like a kid walking into a candy store for the very first time, I followed the member outside to his lane. When I got there, he had a custom 22 semi-auto and one Dan Wesson 1911 45 ACP, all laid out and ready to go.I've thought quite a bit about which gun I wanted to be my very first and no matter how I sliced it, the 1911 had always ended up being the one I visualized myself shooting for the very first time. The timing of this stranger encounter could not have been better!
He asked me if I knew what I was looking at on his bench and I told him absolute and that I had been doing some "homework." I named both firearms on his bench and he said "very good." He asked me if I knew anything about "five basic handgun safety rules" and I said absolutely. I then cited each rule verbally. He said, "very good." He then asked me, if I could name the key external parts of the 1911 and I said, absolutely I could. I then verbally identified the purpose and use of each external function on the 1911. He said, "outstanding."
He then asked me, if I knew the procedure for checking & clearing a 1911 and I said, absolutely. He then told me to go ahead and clear it. I indexed my trigger finger on the body below the slide on the right side, gripped the weapon normally while pointing the muzzle down range, actuated the magazine release to drop the mag and then pulled the action fully back until the slide locked out. I then visually and physically inspected the chamber and mag well. He said, "I see you've done this before." I said no, not at all - I've just been doing a lot of study and the 1911 was once on my short list. He smiled.
He then said, well - now that the gun is cleared, show me your grip and stance. I then assumed a downrange stance and gripped the same way I grip my Gammo C-15. He said, "so you favor the Weaver." I said, yep - it feels very comfortable for me. He said, well load it up and send one down range. I said, I think I can do that (with a huge smile on my face).
Making sure to keep the muzzle down range, I loaded a magazine, racked the slide, double checked the safety and put the 1911 in SA mode. He laughed and said, "you look like a pro!" I laughed back and said, oh really! Assuming my Weaver, I raised the 1911 and with my finger indexed on the body under the slide, locked out my left wrist, took a really deep breath and began to sloooooooooowly pull the trigger.
Of course, that's when all heck broke loose!
I remembered all those 1911 videos where other people proclaim the 1911 trigger to be sent from heaven given its light and short pull. Well, I somehow forgot that part.
Not remembering just how short the 1911 trigger really was, my brain was still waiting for the sloooooooooow trigger pull to come to and end when BOOM - the gun exploded in my hands!
Not literally, but figuratively! The round was down the barrel and on the target before I could blink! In fact, I learned that blinking was actually a luxury.Geepers! When you fire 45 for the very first time, I feels like your hands enter an episode of the Twilight Zone. It is a very weird stasis-like feeling where no matter what you do, you cannot stop your hands from moving back & up. It is like gravity just disappears for a brief moment and your hands just seem to float into space directly above where they were just a split second ago before you pulled the trigger. It feels bizarre at first but really fun!
The first shot was so fun in fact, that I laughed out loud. Having gun powder exploding that close to your face is freakish, a bit unreal. I had to put the gun down just to finish laughing aloud.
I reverted back to being a five (5) old kid instantaneously. I had the biggest grin on my face and no way to wipe it off. The first shot? Well, it landed 3 inches from dead center. Not too bad for a Newbie. My next seven (7) shots all landed within a radius 10 inches from center. Again, not great, but not bad for a green rookie.The 45 ACP is a monster. I found myself trying to anticipate the explosion too much and then slightly leaning into the gun to gain better control of the recoil. I also had no idea you could feel the recoil that much in your arms as well. I also noticed that my head tended to rise with the barrel during the recoil, because my eyes were following the front sight, instead of the target. This is not good and I'll need to work on that too.
After firing the 1911, he then switched me to his custom 22 semi-auto. After firing that pistol one time, I remarked to him that the recoil felt just like my Gammo C-15. That was a shocker. The 22 is a very easy to control pistol and the recoil felt very much like my blow-back BB pistol on a full CO2 charge - not too different.
There was another gentlemen in the very next lane next to us and after a while, we all began talking about and comparing his Smith & Wesson M&P 22 to the custom 22 that I was firing. I remarked that I did not know S&W manufactured a 22 in the M&P product category. At some point, that gentleman then invited me over to his lane to try out his M&P 22!
The M&P 22 had a feel that was superior in every way to the custom 22 I was using, and it too had a recoil that was eerily similar to a fully charged Gammo C-15.Almost two (2) hours later, after some shooting and a lot of discussion, we finished off with some final rounds going back to the 1911. Even now, I was still somewhat caught off guard by the big explosion the 45 ACP yields in your hands. It just feels freakish to have that kind of explosive power in the palm of your hands. I'm going to have to find a way to detach from the explosiveness of that caliber, and focus a lot more on the target down range. Right now, those two things are completely reversed in my head. I guess I was a bit shell shocked by the big BOOM of the 1911.
Still a Nube but no longer 100% green (about 99% now), I can't wait to get back! I met some great people at the range and had a lot of fun to boot! The absolute best range experience to date bar none (I've visited three [3] ranges thus far). Drove all the way home smiling ear to ear and with a new appreciation and respect for firearms in general.
How some people manage to use the 45 ACP in actual precision shooting competition is a total mystery to me. Maybe one day, I'll figure out the secret. For now, I'm stoked!
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